Western Animation / Hurricanes

"I've inherited a team in the World Soccer League. The HURRICANES!"

—Amanda Carey

Hurricanes is an animated series created in the 1990s by DiC Entertainment, Siriol Productions and Scottish Television as an attempt to capitalize on the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Teenage girl Amanda Carey inherited a soccer team (the Hispanola Hurricanes) from her father. She and the team travel to several locations across the globe to play soccer and/or solve mysteries while battling Stavros Garkos, owner of the Garkos Gorgons.

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Tropes:

• Accidental Bid: Napper once acquired a McGuffin that way. One of the Big Bad's Co-Dragons accidentally acquired a random item in another auction where the Big Bad himself acquired the MacGuffin.
• Action Girl: Amanda Carey.
• All Just a Dream: Some of the episodes. Some even leave hints that maybe it wasn't.
• Alliterative Name: Cal Casey, Sheila Stone, Hispanola Hurricanes, Garkos Gorgons, Tokyo Typhoons, Los Angeles Lasers.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Italian theme song.
• Always Identical Twins: Not with Helmut and Yorg Beethoven. Helmut is taller and Yorg is more muscular.
• And Knowing Is Half the Battle: After each episode ends, there's a segment where somebody (usually Amanda) explains the moral.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In the episode "Deep Cover", after Wyn and Genghis made some of the Hurricanes miss the upcoming game by causing several injuries, Amanda disguises herself as a man to enter the team. The Hurricanes won the game but, not feeling okay with breaking the rules, even one she considers stupid, she confessed to the league, and victory was officially granted to the Gorgons (a rare case where The Bad Guys Win in the very first episode!).
  • In "The Boot of All Evil", the Hurricanes and the Gorgons played a match in Australia for the chance of being spokesmen of a new brand of soccer boots. The Gorgons replaced the Hurricanes' boots with cheap knockoffs that fell apart during the game. To win the game, Papillon painted Plato's feet to make it seem like he's wearing boots. The Hurricanes won the game but rejected the contract. It's not clearly stated if the Gorgons got it or not.
• Banana Republic: The Hurricanes were once imprisoned within one ruled by a soccer-obsessed General in "Escape to Freedom".
• Berserk Button: Plato is against animal cruelty, be it black market trading of rare animals or domesticating wild animals (wallabies that play soccer).
• Big Bad: Stavros Garkos.
• Big Good: Amanda.
• Book Dumb: Despite being phenomenal soccer players and dealing with madcamp adventures outside of soccer, Napper never graduated high school. Rude was in the same boat until Napper inspired him to get his high school certificate.
• The Butler Did It: "The Curse of the Gorgon" had the Hispanola Hurricanes seemingly turned into stone by the legendary Medusa. It turns out they had just been replaced by statues and a butler working for the Hurricanes' host had been bribed into helping.
  • There's a subversion in "Lord Napper of Stepney". Napper inherited his Uncle's fortune on the condition he never plays soccer ever again. It's never been stated who would be the next one to get the inheritance until Napper lost it. Until then, the only people who ever hoped to get the money were a relative and the deceased one's business partner and the two of them ever tried to rid themselves of Napper. In the end, the money went to the valet, who never tried to do anything nor had shown any sign of knowing or even hoping to be the next heir.
• Can't Believe I Said That: In an Enemy Mine case, Amanda and Stats (Hurricanes) entered a truce with Garkos, Wyn and Genghis (Gorgons) to find who's trying to kill commentator Winston Honeychurch. Amanda told the Gorgons they'd have a chance to act like cops. At the first attempt to capture the outside foes, Genghis told them to stop in name of Law. He'd later feel silly for having said that.
• Clock Tower: Helmut and Yorg Beethoven are grandsons of the man who designed the town's clock tower. It benefits them when a new rule for a tournament the Hurricanes want to enter requires all players to have roots in Hispanola.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Stavros Garkos. The main example of the series.
  • The series also introduced a villain named Douglas Fir, whose character is similar to Garkos.
  • Also in that series, when Napper Thompson's uncle died and left his fortune to him on the condition Napper never plays soccer again, Napper became the target of two villains who wanted to get the inheritance. One of the villains was the uncle's former business partner. Napper lost the inheritance but fortunately it was revealed neither villain was the appointed next heir.
• Crystal Spires and Togas: The future that Napper dreams about in "The Relegator" is technologically advanced and features people wearing togas.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: Amanda. While she's of the usual age group for the trope, the team she manages is made of professionals instead of her fellow high schoolers.
• Disappeared Dad: Amanda's father, who died, leaving his soccer team to her.
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: In "Deep Cover", the Hurricanes defeat the Gorgons but are disqualified because one of the Hurricanes playing the game is a girl.
• The Dragon: Wyn and Genghis share this role.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Wyn and Genghis once thought they'd get this role when their boss fell victim of a mind-altering plant but, when they told him to give them what they're worthy, Garkos said he'd cut their wages in half. Wyn and Genghis then rushed in search for the antidote before he made it official.
• Dragon with an Agenda: While Wyn and Genghis usually have no ulterior motive to help Stavros Garkos other than the money he pays them, they once learned about a gold mine during one of the dirty jobs they were doing and decided to steal it so they'd no longer have to work for Garkos.
• Enemy Mine: Amanda and Stats (Hurricanes) teamed up with Wyn and Genghis (Gorgons) against the outside foe who wanted to kill the commentator in one episode. Said foe even lampshaded the unlikeliness of such alliance by commenting how surprised he was by seeing Hurricanes and Gorgons working together.
• Eviler than Thou: Trying to blow up a soccer stadium and kill everyone there just to prevent a potential key witness from exposing a game fixing scheme tops every wrongdoing done by Stavros Garkos.
• Feud Episode: In the episode "Family Feud", Helmut and Jorg (the team's strikers) are feuding with each other because of Helmut's attitude. Thanks to a Batman Gambit by the rest of the team, they realise how stupid they were being and apologize to each other.
• For the Evulz: This trope appears to be Stavros Garkos's main motivation for his schemes, aside from money.
• Football Hooligans: Stavros Garkos, owner of the Garkos Gorgons, hired some youngsters to act as hooligans to make the World Soccer Association close the Hurricanes' stadium.
• The Foreign Subtitle: In Brazil, the series is also known as Hurricanes - Os Craques da Bola. (Hurricanes - The Aces of the Ball)
• Friendly Scheming: In "Family Feud", when Yorg and Helmut start to argue, the whole team arranges a fake kidnapping of Yorg so that Helmut could realise how much does he care for him and come to his rescue.
• The Game Of The Series: a game was made. It was a platform game, where the characters use a football to kill the enemies.
• Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Stavros Garkos had a scene wearing one in one episode. (Noticeable because he usually dresses like a Man of Wealth and Taste) He actually wasn't on vacation but on a business trip trying to persuade a nation's regent to allow him to extract oil.
• Heroes Act, Villains Hinder: In "Around the World in 90 Minutes", the protagonists organize a series of soccer matches to be played at an aircraft carrier. The villains seize the carrier and stop the matches out of spite.
• Hijacked by Ganon: In "Escape to Freedom", the Hurricanes were captured by a soccer-obsessed General of a Banana Republic and forced to play against his soccer team. It was revealed to the viewers but not to the Hurricanes (albeit it's implied the team's owner suspects) Stavros Garkos made an agreement to keep them from showing up for an upcoming game so Garkos' own team, the Garkos Gorgons, would win by default.
• I Am One of Those, Too: In "Big Sister, Big Trouble", Amanda learns that she has an older half-sister. The sister turns out to be an imposter who's being coerced into spying on Amanda's soccer team by Stavros Garkos. When she claims to come from a town named Schnitzelheim, the Beethoven twins reveal that they were born there.
• I Own This Town: Stavros Garkos rules the Island of Garkos and has his brother enforce his rules.
• Identical Grandson: Stavros Garkos IV. Then again, the plot where he appeared was All Just a Dream and there's no proof he'll ever exist. Also Amanda Carey's and Jock Stone's counterparts from Stavros IV's time.
• International Showdown by Proxy: One of Stavros Garkos's desires is to "prove" soccer has been invented at his home land.
• Leitmotif: Stavros Garkos has one. Stavros IV seems to have inherited it.
• Mascot: The Hurricanes have two: Topper the monkey and Dribble the dog.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Stavros Garkos is rarely seen without his green suit. Think about an overweight version of Valmont with black hair.
• Morally Bankrupt Banker: Stavros Garkos owns, among other things, a finance company. Not much is known about how he manages that venture since it was just briefly mentioned and the episode's plot was about a project developed by the laboratories the finance company foreclosed in that episode.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Hispanola Hurricanes Coach Jock Stone is named after real life soccer star Jock Stein.
  • Also, Jock Stone once phoned Pelé to ask for a favor. When one of the Hurricanes commented about not knowing Jock was friends with Pelé, he understood what they thought and told them it wasn't that Pelé.
• Multinational Team: Each of the team's players is a different nationality.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Being a Corrupt Corporate Executive, Stavros Garkos usually dispatches minions to do his dirty work. However, he's not above doing some of it himself.
• Non-Idle Rich: Amanda. Despite being a teenager, she actually gets involved with the management of her soccer team rather than letting her mother do it or sell the team. In fact, her mother even threatens to keep her from getting involved with the team to make sure she'll get good grades.
  • Stavros Garkos counts as an evil example of the trope. Not only he seems to be quite involved with the Garkos Gorgons, at least where the Hurricanes are concerned, but he also is quite active on the (usually dirty) activities of Garkos Enterprises.
• Not Me This Time: In "Target: Winston", when an explosion almost kills commentator Winston Honeychurch and Stats finds out it wasn't an accident, Stavros Garkos was the first person Amanda suspected of being the culprit. It turns out Garkos was really innocent this time (unusual for an episode where he appears).
• On One Condition: Napper Thompson once inherited a fortune and a title of nobility on the condition that he never plays soccer ever again. In the end, Napper decided that his loyalty to the Hispanola Hurricanes is more important than money.
• One Phone Call: Some Hurricanes were mistaken for fugitives and sent to prison. They were given just one phone call (one for the group, not one for each person). Unfortunately Topper, the team's pet monkey, was the only one to answer the phone.
• Only in It for the Money: It's revealed in one episode that Wyn and Genghis would stop working for Garkos if they didn't need the money he pays them.
• Opposing Sports Team: The Garkos Gorgons.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: In one episode, Napper's younger brother Nigel joined a gang of hooligans and Stavros Garkos decided to use them to convince the World Soccer Association (that series' version of FIFA) to shut down the Hispanola Hurricanes' stadium. When Nigel saw the hooligans' true colors, he agreed to spy on them. When trying to collect data from Nigel, Napper approached him wearing sunglasses and a fake mustache as a disguise to avoid being recognized by the hooligans. The only hooligan to see Napper in that disguise saw through it.
• Prefers Going Barefoot: Plato, who doesn't like the constraints on his feet, specifically, he wants to wiggle his toes.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Winston Honeychurch often rhymes whilst commentating.
• Robotic Reveal:
  • In "Techno-Team", Stavros Garkos uses robot copies of his soccer team's members during a match. Some parts fall off during the game's second half.
  • In "Relegator", a descendant of Stavros Garkos sends the titular robot disguised as a player back in time to change the result of a match where Garkos waged too much money. The reveal happens in a way that references the film it parodies. It was All Just a Dream.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Prince Rupert of Mulravia. He's a Prince who likes to play soccer. His father used to be the same way.
  • Given the kind of power and influence the Garkos Family has over the Island of Garkos, Stavros Garkos, his brother Spiro Garkos and his sister Melinda Garkos are also examples of this trope. Stavros' niece, who expected to obtain a vice-presidency in Garkos Enterprises in exchange for helping him with one of his plots, might also qualify.
• Sadist Teacher: Spiro Garkos fits this trope as the coach of the Garkos Gorgons Youth Team. He seems to be this to all footballers but Stevie Pepenopolis had it the worst. And he couldn't be reported to Child Welfare because, in the Island of Garkos, he heads the Department of Child Welfare.
• Save the Villain: Toro once saved the life of Melinda Garkos.
• Saving the Sports Center: Stavros Garkos once tried to destroy a Sports Center for underprivileged children to build a parking lot for a theme park. The Hurricanes organized a charity match to save it and Garkos sent his team to replace the Hurricanes' adversaries and hurt them so the game would be cancelled. When two of the Hurricanes found out, they blackmailed Garkos into buying and donating the place.
• Scarecrow Solution: In "Phantom Fan", Stavros Garkos sends Wyn and Genghis to a stadium he wants to buy so they'll prevent a fund-raising game to take place. The heroes scare them away by pretending to be the titular Phantom.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Basically how Stavros and Spiro Garkos run the Island of Garkos. Spiro even admitted to Genghis in one episode that the law he planned to exploit to help his brother with his goal for that episode was one he made up for the occasion.
  • Prince Rupert of Mulravia used to think the same way until Amanda made it clear how much she despised him for that.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Napper, Toro, Jorg, Wyn Smithe, and Genghis Khan all qualify in this area.
• Translation Convention: Stavros Garkos speaks English even when talking with one of his siblings (Spiro or Melinda) despite the three of them being Greeks.
  • Plato and Humberto (Plato's big brother and fellow Brazilian) talking to each other in English instead of Portuguese.
  • Papillon and a guard of a soccer stadium at Papillon's home nation (France) arguing in English instead of arguing in French.
  • Toro giving an interview in English despite it being in a talk show at his home nation (Spain).
• Two-Headed Coin:
  • In "Deep Cover", the Gorgons win a coin toss for the right to kickstart a game and Winston says the coin has two heads.
  • In "Blood Match", when the referee tosses a coin to decide which team will kickstart the episode's first match, one side has Amanda Carey's face and the other has Stavros Garkos'.
• Villain Exclusivity Clause: Stavros Garkos is the main villain of most episodes and no antagonist who doesn't work for him appears in more than one episode. Whatever Garkos does in each episode he appears doesn't affect other episodes.
• We Have the Keys: Villain example. In "Techno-Team", Stavros Garkos' finance company takes over a laboratory and he decides to break in to mess with a worker's research so she'll have no choice but help him with one of his plans. When he arrives at night, his henchman Genghis is ready to use a crowbar to open the door when he points out that, as the place's owner, he has the keys.
• Whammy Bid: The man acting as a proxy for Stavros Garkos while attempting to buy the McGuffin Napper Thompson accidentally bought was instructed to start with one of those.
• What, Exactly, Is His Job?: Some of the Hurricanes don't have clearly defined positions on the team.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Melinda Garkos once fell into a pit full of them, thus prompting the Save the Villain case mentioned above. And the hero who saved her was the one previously known for fearing snakes.
• You, Get Me Coffee: When Stavros Garkos's niece helped him with a plan hoping she'd become the first woman to become Vice-President of Garkos Enterprises in exchange for her help, the plan failed and he blamed her, stating he'd not hire her even if it was to bring him coffee.
• You Go, Girl!: Amanda in "Deep Cover".